Top French honour for Shaji N Karun

Karun, whose latest film ‘Kutty Srank’ is part of the Indian Panorama at the ongoing 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, was selected for the award in recognition of his contribution to India’s cultural life and the development of Indo-French cooperation in the field of art.

The announcement comes days after Lata Mangeshkar was chosen for the “Officier de la Légion d’Honneur”.

French Ambassador to India Jérôme Bonnafont will confer the award on Karun at an investiture ceremony on Friday here alongside a French Film Festival celebrating “50 years of New Wave Cinema”.

Karun, who had earlier won the Sir Charlie Chaplin Award of the United Kingdom, is the last director to have a film in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, where ‘Swaham’ sparkled way back in 1994.

Incidentally, the French Film Festival will be inaugurated by Serge Toubiana, Director General of Cinémathèque Française, with a screening of the restored version of Jean-Luc Godard classic ‘Pierrot le fou’.

Apart from Delhi, the festival of eight French New Wave masterpieces — organised by the Embassy of France in India, Culturesfrance and the Cinémathèque Française — will travel to Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.